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Those challenges relate to an expanded base, and Romney’s “ability to attract that segment of voter” in upstate counties, many of whom gave McCain a third-place showing in his 2000 race. But Romney was not able to notch such placement in those areas last time.

Polling is still showing Romney leading in a state that handed him a crushing single-digits return in his 2008 campaign.

But he’s facing a Georgian, a culture war veteran, and an electorate that may harbor ill will about Romney’s Mormon faith to a greater extent than pollsters are detecting. And unlike voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolinians rarely pull punches.

“It doesn’t take much more than a single hothead willing to say something on the record abut the Mormon Church to get the entire press corp to start writing about it,” said one Republican strategist. “And you’re far more likely to find that hothead in South Carolina than you are in Iowa and New Hampshire.”

“I think you have to set the expectations a little different in advance,” said Tony Denny, a South Carolina-based strategist. “Newt Gingrich has had more support on the ground here…being a native Georgian and right next door.”

Gingrich is actually a native Pennsylvanian, but Georgia has been his adopted state for decades.

“We’re not a suburb of Boston so there’s some differences,” Denny said. “This was always going to be a more challenging environment for Romney than New Hampshire.”

Calhoun County Chairman Larry Jordan said he was hoping the negative ads would die down but didn’t actually expect them to.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think South Carolina has always been kind of a maverick state and they go their own way, rather than follow the trends from Iowa and New Hampshire. But at the same time, I’m not sure how effective [the negative ads] are going to be,” Jordan said. “Usually the people who are thinking that way to begin with, it’s just ammunition for them to continue thinking that way. And those who oppose them, it just irritates them.”

Jordan added that the ads are “no way to make decisions on the candidates…Unfortunately I’m afraid we’re giving a lot of cannon fodder for the Democrats in the general election, no matter who gets the nomination.”

Others don’t seem to object to the negative undertone.

Newberry County GOP Chair Steve Smith, a Gingrich backer, said, it “seems like all the candidates are running around like a chicken with their head cut off trying to get these voters to go their way.”

The negative ads, he said, were “started by the super PAC for Romney in Iowa. The way I look at it, turnabout’s fair play.”

“With six people still in the race, yeah it’s a free-for-all for a bit,” Smith added. “But it’s a free society and everybody’s kind of making their opinions known.”

Mitt flip flopping Romney has been playing nasty and flip flopping on policies all his life. He poll tests everything and says what you want to hear.

Mitt Romney can not ne trusted. The biggest cheerleader of the bank bailout and the creator of mandates and socialised medicine. He ruthlessly slashed jobs and sent them overseas and sold factories for the steel.

An analysis by the Columbia State, the largest South Carolina newspaper, showed this weekend that an astonishing $11.3 million has been spent on TV ads — the majority of which are anti-Newt Gingrich spots run by a pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future.

Where's the outrage from the phony, hypocritical "conservative apologists" for ROVE/romney-CARE?? Hey first in comments shill, where's your phony baloney???

Mitt feels the pain of the poor, by the way, but not in New Hampshire. Different strokes.

Can'tor wait for the two debates this week and the Anchor Baby stammering. He's so crooked and scarred, the Dems won't know where to begin.

which is worse, a consistent lib, or a born-again conservative >>> if I had to have a conservative, I'd prefer a consistent one, not a phony POS like ROVE/romney, who you will vote for >>>

try listening to the SOTU without looking at the TV >>> you could always do that later >>> do the same thing with the Republie reply >>> try it with the debates >>> You'll be surprised >>>

where did the two born-again Bush's put this Nation >>> you people deserve exactly what the Citizen's DisUnited gave us >>> nice to see the American Petroleum Institute PAC lying on their ad on the NFL game against Obama

Mittens is slipping in the polls in SC, some have him in a dead heat with Newt

hehehe lol yeah right:

WASHINGTON | Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:25pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has opened a wide lead over his rivals in the South Carolina primary election race, trouncing Newt Gingrich and gaining momentum in his march toward the party's nomination, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, could all but quash his rivals' presidential aspirations with a victory in South Carolina on January 21 after winning the first state-by-state nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Voters in South Carolina - who have favored Republicans in nine of the last 10 presidential elections - appear to have shrugged off attacks on Romney by rivals who accuse him of killing jobs as a private equity executive for Bain Capital in the 1990s.

The poll showed 37 percent of South Carolina Republican voters back Romney. Congressman Ron Paul and former Senator Rick Santorum tied for second place with 16 percent support.

Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, has fallen far back after holding a strong lead in South Carolina in December. He was in fourth place at 12 percent in the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

"In primary races things can change quickly but it does look like Romney is in position to win South Carolina, and if he wins ... that's sort of the end of the road for most of his challengers," Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson said.

lol........poor pro-Obama freemind123...................no freemind123 Mitt Romney isn't a wolf in sheep's clothing...............he's the guy that the American people will authorize to FIRE your hero Obama on Tuesday night November 6th 2012................

And the only wolves howling will be Obama's pack friends in our liberal/progressive MSM wolfpack press...........

lol........poor pro-Obama freemind123...................no freemind123 Mitt Romney isn't a wolf in sheep's clothing...............he's the guy that the American people will authorize to FIRE your hero Obama on Tuesday night November 6th 2012................

I'd bet everything you had on that, Perceptions. In fact, I think you should borrow money from friends and neighbors to bet on Romney.

By the way, did you see the "Swift Boating" number done by Newt's pals on Romney?